A mobile device stores a number of databases or collections, hereinafter referred to as collections, that periodically need to be synchronized with a network node. Such a synchronization ensures that the collections stored on the network node are the same as those stored on the mobile device.
In order to ensure that synchronization occurs in a particular order, prior art solutions assign a priority number to each collection, where the priority number represents the order in which the collection is synchronized. In order to ensure simplicity, a limited number of priority levels are available in these prior solutions. Thus, each collection could be assigned, for example, a priority from 1-10. This priority ordinal could be sent to the network node as part of an initialization packet. The network node could then use the ordinal to order the returning packets to the device, thereby forcing the network node to perform the synchronization in a predetermined collections order.
The above solution, however, does not accommodate devices with a larger number of collections. Nor does it accommodate devices in which some collections become dependent on each other. By assigning various collections the same priority level, the network node can choose which collection to return first, creating a haphazard ordering system which could cause problems if a collection, which is dependent on another collection, is synchronized out of order.